Blood Is Red But So Is Love
by Eris Rosemieri Discordia
Summary: Aria grew up in the Hidden Sand. Her parents forced her to move away with them when she was five. up until then she had one friend. Gaara... Now she's back to become a ninja for her old home. She doesn't know what to expect. The last thing she expected was to see Garra again. Much less be on his team and live in his house.


Aria

Hi. My name is Aria and I live in the Hidden Sand Village. I am 5 years old and have one friend. His name is Garra. The grown ups don't like Garra. I don't know why. We're not friends yet. But today I'm going to see if he wants to play. I see him looking at all the other kids play so I'm sure his wants to. Doesn't he? _That's what I said back then... Now I can look back on it with a smile..._

Garra

I was sitting on the swing watching the other kids play.

"Hi." A voice said behind me. I turned around to see a girl about the same age as me holding a ball. "I'm Aria. Do you want to play with me?" I didn't know what to say. It was the first time someone actually looked at me without being... Afraid.

"Sure." I said.

"Great." She had dark brown hair with big brown eyes. "What do you want to play?"

"How about I kick the ball to you and you can kick it back?" She said with a smile.

"Ok." She kick it to me and it rolled to a stop at my feet.

"OK. Now kick it back." I did so. We kicked it back and forth and for the first time... I wasn't alone. I accidently kicked the ball past her. "That's ok. I'll go get it!" Sh said. When she reached it she went to kick it but missed the ball entirely and started to fall backwards.

"Aria!" I said and extended my hand towards her. The next thing I knew, there was a bed of sand to catch her. She looked at it me, amazed as I used the sand to help her back to her feet. "That was cool!" She said. "How did you do that!"

"I've always been able to do it."

"Awesome." She said with a smile. The she saw the first street light come on. "It's getting dark. I have to go. Can we play again tomorrow?"

"Yeah." I said with a smile. We played every day after that. Then one day I went to go meet her and there were a group of older boys mesimg with her and pushing her around. They were holding her ball up out of reach.

"Give it back!"

"Make us." The one that had her ball said.

"I said... Give it back!" She said as she kicked him in the shin as hard as she could. It was hard enough that it had already started to turn purple.

"Grr. I'll make you pay for that. You little runt!" He said, picking her up by the colar of her shirt. "Leave her alone." I said. The three boys stopped and looked at me. He threw Aria to the ground.

"Fine... What ever." He said as he started to walk away. Then he turned around an kicked Aria in the stomach as she was getting up. She cried out.

"Aria!" I said. Sand whipped out and smacked the boy away from her. I went to attack him again but Aria grabbed my arm, stopping me.

"Garra, it's alright. I'm fine. See?" She said with a smile. As she was assuring me she was ok, the three boys ran away. After that day, I never saw her again...

Years Later

Aria

I was standing at the Kazekage's desk, waiting on him ti finalize my transfer.

"Why leave your village as soon as you graduate from the academy." He asked.

"I lived here as a child. It was my parents wish to move from The Hidden Sand. Not my own."  
"I see. Very well, seeing the promise you hold as a ninja, I will put you on his squad." He motined behind me. I turned to see a boy around my age. He had war paint on and a hood thing that made it look like he had cat ears. "You will also be living with Kankuro and his other two team memebers."

"You all live together?"

"We're all siblings." The boy said.

"Oh?"

"Here's reports on the last mission."

"And what of your sensei?"

"Infirmiry."

"Very well. Give Aria a place to stay will you. I have other things to do."

"Yes sir." He said. "Come on. I'll show you to the house and give you a room."

"OK." I said as I slung my bag over my shoulder and followed him out.

"So wait, the Kazekage can just say "Hey let her live with you." And you have no say about it."

"Well he is the Kazekage but he's also my father." He said.

"Oh... Well that explains alot." I said, feeling rather dumb. We walked to the house talking about this and that until we got to the room I was suppose to stay in. "You can stay here. Temari should be thrilled that there's another girl in the house. Just steer clear of Garra and you should be alright."

"Wait did you just say Garra?" I asked but her was already gone. _Garra... Wow it's been a while since I've heard his name. I wonder if he still remembers me... _I unpacjed my bags and put every thing away. I had a bed, a closet, a dresser, a vanity, and a nightstand, so I had plenty of space for everything. After that I went down stairs for. I was thirsty and needed somethinf to drink. I went into the kitchen and was greeted by a blond girl.

"You must be the new addition to the team."

"And you must be Temari." I said, giving her a smile. Temari smiled back.

"So Kankuro gave you the rundown on everything?"

"Yeah. He seems nice enough." she chuckled.

"Probably just trying to make some moves on you." I couldn't help but laugh.

"Really, does he do that to many girls?"

"Not really but he does it alot." We both laughed. Then Temari stopped abruptly. I felt someone glaring at me. I turned and saw an all too familiar face. The boy with the red hair and the blue eyes that reminded me of the sky on a cloudy day. The boy I had moved back here for. Those once kind eyes were now filled with hatred. I don't know why I said what I did but I said it anyways. "Hi, my name's Aria. What's yours?" I said with a smile. After all these years. I still wasn't scared of him.

"Garra... So you're our new teammate." He said.

"Yeah, guess I am." I still wasn't scared, so why was Temari.

"Stay out of my way, or I'll kill you..." He threatend, then he was gone. Now I see why, sort of. _So he doesn't remember... _

"So that's Garra."

"Yeah." She said, still on edge.

"I'm going out. I need to get some training in." I said and headed towards the training grounds. Did Garra not remembering me hurt me that much? That I was mad and needed to go blow off some steam. Wow. Once I got there I ran into another familiar face. Kankuro.

"Oh, hey Aria, funny running into you here." He said.

"Yeah, funny." I said. "I was just going to do some training."

"Cool, me to. Wanna spar?" I probably should've asked what fighting type he was before answering.

"Sure." I said and attakced. He dodged me effortlessly and jumped behind me, but when I went to retaliate, I couldn't move. "What the hell?"

"Chakra strings." He said smugly. "I can control your movements, or in this case, ack of movement, with the skightest twitch of my finger." I struggled to break free but failed. "So, do you give up?"

"Yeah right." I said, refuseing to do so.

"I can also do this." And with that the strings tightened around my body, crushing my.

"Ok, ok, ok, ok, I giive up! You win!" I practycally fell when he released me. "Damn, were you trying to kill me?"

"No, just squeeze a date out of you, maybe?"

"Sorry, but I'm intrested in someone else, Kankuro." I was expecting him to ask me who, but insted, I got a different reply.

"He's not the same as he was back then, Aria."

"How-"

"Don't think that I wasn't watching out for my little brother back then. I recognixed you as soon as I saw you in my father's office. I jnew who you were. But Garra's not that kid anymore. He's changed."

"That doesn't matter to me, Kankuro." I said, giving him a sad smile. "I made up my mind the first time I saw him that he was the one I would love for the rest of my life. Even if it meant that he wouldn't love me back. If I dated you, it wouldn't mean anything to my, Kankuro. I'd only be hurting you and that wouldn't be fair."

"I guess it wouldn't."


End file.
